The Seoulcial life in Indonesia

Monthly Archives: September 2010

On the latest episode of SBS music drama “I Am Legend“, Super Junior’s Heechul made a surprise guest appearance!

In the September 20th episode, the girls of Comeback Madonna Band are at a broadcasting station to go on a radio program called Power FM. While being a nosy Nelly and snooping around, the girls run into Heechul.

Despite her friends saying other wise, Hwa Ja (Hong Ji Min) goes into super fan girl mode and approaches Heechul asking for not one but two autographs. During this interaction, he realizes who the women are and says, “Wait… you’re Comeback Madonna, right? I’m totally a fan! Please, if you have the time, come onto our radio show Young Street.”

This surprise cameo appearance was a definite treat for fans of the show and E.L.F.s alike. Check out the clip below!

There has been great concern in Korea after news went out that Dong Bang Shin Ki trio Micky YooChun, Hero JaeJoong and Xiah JunSu had left their Japanese agency.

The news came directly from the trio’s Japanese agency AVEX Trax on September 16, announcing the temporal suspension of the trio’s Japanese activities. The trio’s representative responded on September 17 that the report was a one-sided report from AVEX Trax and has posed the trio with adverse conditions.
Even though this is for the trio’s Japanese activities, there has been great interest coming from Korea’s side as well. This is because currently we are looking at the ‘new hallyu’ by singers who are promoting in Japan currently like Big Bang, Supernova, KARA, So Nyeo Shi Dae etc.

In fact, the chance of success to be achieved by the girlgroups in the Japanese music scene is said to be high. At the same time, many of these singers’ local agencies are contacting Japanese agencies to work together for these group’s Japanese promotions. With this news, there have been many eyebrows raised from officials in the Korean music industry.

This comes somewhat as a cold air amidst the Kpop fever going on in the Japanese music scene. Dong Bang Shin Ki has been acknowledged as the representative Korean singers in the Japanese music scene. Many of the Japanese fans of KARA and So Nyeo Shi Dae are also fans of Dong Bang Shin Ki. This would have some impact on the Korean management companies to work with more caution with their groups promoting in Japan.

An official from the music scene commented, “Dong Bang Shin Ki is the pillar and the co-existence to K-pop in Japan. Even though they have not been very active since last year, we cannot underestimate the power that comes with the name in Japan. It is not exaggerating to say that the K-pop ‘new hallyu’ are made by Dong Bang Shin Ki. There are worries that with the 3 leaving the Japanese music scene, it will be like cold wind amidst the hot fever of K-pop in Japan.”

S:Newsen

Meanwhile, here’s the translation of AVEX’s announcement on 16th Sep:

Suspension of JUNSU/JEJUNG/YUCHUN’s Activities in Japan

We would like to inform you that the Japanese activities of JUNSU/JEJUNG/YUCHUN, exclusive artists of Avex Entertainment Inc. (100% subsidiary of our company, head office in Minato district, Tokyo), will be suspended for the time being.

This is with regards to the reports that the representative of JUNSU/JEJUNG/YUCHUN’s current Korean management agency, CJeS Entertainment Co., Ltd. Inc., whose father holds a high position in the mafia. The said representative has used his father’s strength to blackmail artists and has served a term in prison, under charges of duress. We have therefore conducted a research for the facts.

According to the results, the relations with the mafia are unclear. However, all the other reports as written above have been proven to be true.

In addition to that, the procedure of the exclusive contract title for JUNSU/JEJUNG/YUCHUN is now under dispute in Korea. There is a high possibility that the exclusive contract itself between our company and the three will become void.

Our company places great importance in compliance and business policy in observing corporate ethics. We have decided to pause the management of their activities until these problems have been solved.

We highly regret that we have caused the fans that are supporting JUNSU/JEJUNG/YUCHUN great worry concerning the reports mentioned. Moreover, we appreciate your kind understanding to our company’s decision as above.

Concerning the product releases and the services currently being provided, there will be no changes made. Additionally, there is no change to the exclusive contract of Tohoshinki (5 members), whose managed by SM Entertainment.

As we have consistently stated, we will, with all our might, give our support, so that Tohoshinki’s activities can be resumed.

Twenty-four year old brand maniac Kim Kyeonga is being called the Paris Hilton of Korea by netizens, and has been attracting much attention after she appeared as a special guest on Mnet Tent In the City.

She first shocked the show hosts by revealing, “The outfit and accessories I’m wearing right now exceeds $339,847 USD.” One of the handbags that she brought on the show is known for its one year long waiting list and is considered the brand name of brand names. The surprise doesn’t end there though, as she revealed that she had one in every color. “I don’t have to wait when I go to Paris.”

She also went on to state that she’s been maintaining her luxurious lifestyle through just the allowance she receives from her parents. When compared to America’s Paris Hilton by MC Go Eunah, she retorted, “I’m better than Paris Hilton, so I don’t like being compared to her. What does she have that I don’t?”

Kim Kyeonga gave a tour of her dressing room and showed off brand name bags bought in every color. She treated them as if they were toys, nonchalantly stating, “I’m thinking of drawing on them with a sharpie later.” Her dressing room is also set up so that clothes are on the second floor while shoes are on the first floor with direct access to her parking lot.

Some of the items she received as presents were a $254,885 USD car, along with a $169,923 USD diamond studded Hello Kitty necklace, the only one in existence in the world.

Currently unemployed, the MCs went on to ask what she considered were the drawbacks of such a lifestyle, Kim Kyeonga replied, “I get a lot of useless people trying to get into my life, so I don’t have a lot of friends. I draw the line first.”

Fashion director Woo Jongwan also expressed his surprise, knowing quite a few lifestyles of famous celebrities himself. “This is the first time I’ve seen such a person. I came in with a bad impression after I heard that she’s covered from top to bottom in brand names. Still, I think her confident attitude is charming.”

On the other hand, netizens were rather put off with her attitude and left comments such as, “She’s unemployed, but Hilton makes more money than she inherited. Hilton wins,” “It’s not even her money, but her parent’s. She looks thoughtless and lacks respect,” and “The difference between her and Hilton is that Hilton has a job.”

On the most recent episode of KBS’s 1 Night 2 Days, viewers were looking hard for MC Mong’s appearances. The PD of the show had previously stated that he would cut out most of his parts without ruining the episode.

Just as the PD promised, MC Mong was rarely seen on the episode, except for essential parts such as the shot with all six members. The screen time for the other members significantly increased due to MC Mong’s “abscence”.

As the episode ended, netizens made many comments on the program’s official message board. Some noticed the effort that the PD had put in, leaving comments such as, “You could see that the PD had tried as hard as he can to cut out MC Mong from the episode. It was very obvious.” However, others left comments such as, “Not even one part with MC Mong should be shown.”

A total of 20 songs have been swept up in legitimate plagiarism controversies since 2000, and it has recently been revealed by the Committee on Culture, Sports, Tourism, Broadcasting & Communications that the royalties earned by these songs total to $1,724,138 USD.

Jin Sungho of the Committee revealed a series of documents submitted by the Korea Music Copyright Association describing the situation behind royalties received by composers that have plagiarized. According to the document, the court has found a total of 20 songs to be plagiarized, some including MC Mong’s “Letter to You,” Hyori’s “I’m Back” and “Swing,” Lee Seung Ki’s “Mask,” Son Dambi’s “Saturday Night,” Lee Seung Chul’s “Scream,” CNBlue’s “Loner,” and GDragon’s “Heartbreaker.” The problem lies in the fact that royalty payments of nearly $250,000 USD per song were paid without any clear standards, totaling nearly 2 million USD.

Upon further investigation reveals that in the case of song ‘Q,’ which was released in 2009, totaled $250,000 USD in royalties in the year it’s been active.

In the case of song ‘R,’ it received $230,000 USD in royalties since its release in 2004. Out of the 20 plagiarized songs listed over the past 10 years, nine songs were paid over $100,000 USD in royalties.

The most recent controversial song ‘G’ also received $700 USD in the four months it was active.

Jin Sungho went on to state, “To plagiarize is to steal a creation by someone else. It is unjust for royalties to be paid when songs are found to be plagiarized and/or suspected to be plagiarized. We will be aggressively pressing the government offices to create a guideline on plagiarism in order to protect the rights of music producers.”

After getting the attention for his acting on MBC’s drama “Playful Kiss”. Kim Hyun Joong who play as Baek Seung Jo in the drama change his hairstyle.

The latest episode featured characters Oh Hani and Baek Seung Jo entering college and both wanting to change by showing off a new mature image with this fresh new start. Because of this, Baek Seung Jo changed his hair style to a perm, with some strong encouragement coming from his mother.

Fans are already saying that this hair style suits him really well and his good looks really show.